Railcar brake arrangement

ABSTRACT

An articulated railcar has several well car units for carrying shipping containers, highways trailers, or a combination of the two. The well car units permit the nose of a long highway trailer to overhang the articulated connection between two adjacent cars. A brake valve is located in a relief formed in the main bolster of one of the articulated units, out of the way of the overhanging trailer. Each well car unit has a side beam having a roll formed top chord reinforced by a top chord plate, a downwardly extending web, and a lower sill formed of a thick angle. The service, or auxiliary, and emergency brake reservoirs are mounted in a saddle bag configuration to the outside face of the webs of the opposite side beams of the articulated unit, tucked underneath the reinforced roll formed top chord.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to improvements in the structure of well cars,and in particular to the braking system of those cars.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Railway well cars may be considered as upwardly opening U-shapedchannels of a chosen length, simply supported on a pair of railcartrucks. Although single unit well cars are still common, there has beena trend in recent years toward articulated, multi-unit railcars whichincrease the number of containers per unit length of train. Further,articulated cars are cheaper to build and maintain per container slot.

Contemporary well cars may carry a number of alternative loads made upof containers in International Standards Association (ISO) sizes ordomestic sizes, and of highway trailers. The ISO containers are 8'-0"wide, 8'-6" wide, and come in a 20'-0" length weighing up to 52,900lbs., or a 40'-0" length weighing up to 67,200 lbs. Both stand-alone andarticulated well cars can be all-purpose trailer on flat car ("TOFC") orcontainer on flat car ("COFC") railcars. This means that they can carryboth containers and trailers or containers only. Domestic containers are8'-6" wide and 9'-6" high. Their standard lengths are 45', 48' and 53'.All domestic containers have a maximum weight of 67,200 lbs. Recently28' long domestic containers have been introduced in North America. Theyare generally used for courier services which have lower ladingdensities. The 28' containers have a maximum weight of 35,000 lbs.

Two common sizes of highway trailers are, first, the 28' pup trailerweighing up to 40,000 lbs., and second, the 45' to 53' trailer weighingup to 60,000 lbs. for a two axle trailer or up to 90,000 lbs. for athree axle trailer. It is advantageous to provide well cars with TOFCand COFC hitches at both ends. This permits either a single 53' threeaxle trailer or, or two back-to-back 28' pup trailers to be loaded. Thewheels of a trailer can rest in the well, with the front of the traileroverhanging decking at one end or the other of well car unit. A secondtrailer may rest in the well facing in the opposite direction.Alternatively shipping containers, typically of 20 ft., 28 ft, or 40 ftlengths, may be placed in the well, with other shipping containersstacked on top. Further, well cars may carry mixed loads of containersand trailers.

When a long highway trailer rests in the well of one unit of a multipleunit articulated well car, the nose of the trailer is held in a king pinmount on the end structure of that same unit, and can overhang both thearticulated connection and part of the end structure of the adjacentwell car unit. Larger highway trailers usually imply larger loads. Adeep side beam can generally carry a greater load than a shallow beam.Deep side beams generally yield a relatively deep well. A higher loadcapacity also tends to require the use of a larger, 38 inch wheel truck,and a deeper end structure. The result is that the clearance from thetop of the end structure of each well car unit to the underside of thenose of the highway trailer may be relatively small. For example, in thewell car described herein, the design clearance is about 5.5 inchesabove the bolsters and running boards. The clearance above the shearplate is greater, approximately 13 inches plus a small amount. Theversatility of a well car is improved if the well is designed to receivehighway trailers of most common sizes. Similarly, the structure of thewell car unit is generally designed not to foul a design envelopedefined by the extent of the sizes of the overhanging noses of highwaytrailers whose wheels can be received in the well, whether in terms ofheight or width.

A standard AAR brake reservoir is a cylindrical steel tank approximately16 inches in diameter and 34 inches long. The reservoir has an internalcurved plate which divides the cylinder into two compartments. Onecompartment is an auxiliary compartment for containing compressed airused for service brake applications. The other compartment is anemergency compartment, also for containing compressed air, and is usedin emergency brake applications when more rapid braking is required.Both the brake valve and the brake reservoir are too large to fit withinthe 5.5 inch height restriction of the well car described herein,beneath the nose of the overhanging trailers.

A compressed air trainline is formed when the cars of the train arecoupled together. Compressed air from the locomotives is suppliedthrough the trainline to charge the various reservoirs. The normalcharge in the reservoirs is 90 p.s.i.g. When the locomotive engineerapplies the brakes under normal service conditions, pressure is bleddown from the train line, to 85, 80 or 75 p.s.i.g., for example. Thiscauses the brake valve in each successive car to bleed pressure from theauxiliary reservoir to the car's brake cylinder or cylinders to matchthe lowered pressure in the trainline. The air bled from each auxiliaryreservoir is bled to its respective brake cylinder, and causes thebrakes to be applied, either gently or more firmly depending on thepressure level selected by the locomotive engineer. In normal operationit takes a significant length of time for the signal of the pressuredrop in the train line to reach the last car in the train, and for thepressure to stabilize at the particular value selected by the trainlocomotive engineer.

The brake valve will only open the emergency reservoir when the pressuredrop in the trainline is large and rapid. It is desirable that anemergency signal travel down the trainline more quickly than in normaloperation. When emergency operation is selected to "dump" the trainline,the brake valve not only causes both the auxiliary and emergencyreservoirs to be opened to the brake cylinders, but also causes a valveto vent the trainline to ambient at that specific car, rather thanhaving to drain all the way back to the locomotive. The rapidity of theemergency brake response is then a function of the distance between thevalves that vent, or "dump", the trainline to ambient. The AmericanAssociation of Railroads (AAR) standard S-401-92 requires that thelength of brake pipe between any two adjacent control valves not exceed175 feet, to give desired emergency brake performance. A more equalspacing of the brake valves leads to a more even time lapse betweensuccessive brake valve actualizations and hence a more uniform brakeapplication from one car to the next. The term "uniform" means thatthere is less time delay in the brake application from one car to thenext. This in turn results in less slack action in the train.

Traditionally, brake valves and brake reservoirs have been located ontop of the end structure of the articulated well car units. The need tomaintain clearance from the noses of the highway trailers, as notedabove, requires a different placement. One alternative is to locate thebrake valve in the space between the car units, above an articulationtruck. However, the space available tends to be limited by therequirement that the cars be able to follow a 180' bend radius.

In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a multiple unitarticulated railcar that can satisfy the twin requirements that thebrake valves and brake reservoirs not interfere with overhanging highwaytrailers that can fit in the very restrictive space between adjacentintermediate units and that they not be separated by more than 175 feet.

The U-shaped section of the car is generally made up of a pair of spacedapart left and right hand side beams, and structure between the sidebeams to hold up whatever load is placed in the well, and to carry shearbetween the beams under lateral loading conditions.

In earlier types of well car the side beams tended to be made in theform of a single, large beam. While simple in concept, they were oftenwasteful, having a large weight of material in locations where stressmay have been low. It is advantageous to design a sill in the form of ahollow section, of relatively thin walls, and to provide localreinforcement where required. It is also advantageous that the hollowsection be formed at the mill as a hollow tube or roll-formed sectionwhere possible, rather than welded. This often yields a saving ineffort, may permit the use of a higher yield stress steel, and may alsoreduce the number of stress concentrations in the resulting structure.As the wall thickness decreases the prospect of buckling under buffloads increases, and measures to increase stiffness and hence toincrease the buckling load would be advantageous. It would also beadvantageous to provide protection for the sills to discourage damage tothe sills due to clumsy loading of trailers or containers.

In the past one method of dealing with areas of higher flange stressesin the side construction stress concentration was to use a member ofgreater weight. As the thickness of structural members is reduced itwould be advantageous to transfer loads from the railcar trucks to thebolsters, and thence to the side sills, more smoothly to discourage orreduce stress concentrations. One way to do this is to increase thedepth of section at the bolster, with a consequent increase in height ofthe end decking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect of the present invention there is a main bolster foran articulation connection end of a railcar unit of an articulatedrailcar. The bolster is positionable to extend laterally to both sidesof a central sill for mounting an articulation connector, and thebolster has a relief formed therein for accommodating a brake valve.

In an additional feature of that aspect of the invention the bolster hasa distal end most distant from the center sill, and a foremost side forplacement generally facing a main bolster of an adjacent railcar unit.The relief is formed in the foremost side adjacent the distal end. In afurther additional feature bolster has a tapered portion is adjacent itstip.

In another aspect of the invention there is a railcar unit of anarticulated railcar. The railcar unit has at least one articulationconnection end. The railcar unit comprises a sill for mounting anarticulated connector, and a main bolster having arms extendinglaterally from the sill. At least one of the arms has a relief formedtherein for accommodating a brake valve.

In an additional feature of this aspect of the invention, thearticulated end includes a shear plate mounted below the bolster, alateral reinforcement mounted to the shear plate, and a pair ofprotruding load bearing arms extending longitudinally therefrom oneither side of the sill. The relief is located outboard of one of theload bearing arms. In a further additional feature, the reinforcement ismounted above the bolster and the reinforcement has another reliefcorresponding to the relief of the bolster.

In a further additional feature of that aspect of the invention, therailcar unit is a well car unit. It has a well in which the wheels of ahighway trailer can be placed with the nose of the highway traileroverhanging the articulation connection end in a space defined as aclearance envelope. The brake valve is mounted at least partially withinthe relief with all of the brake valve lying outside the envelope.

In a further additional feature of that aspect of the invention, therailcar unit further comprises a pair of longitudinal side walls. It hasemergency and service reservoirs for its brakes. At least one of theservice brake and emergency reservoirs is mounted to one of the sidewalls. In a further feature of that additional feature, the servicereservoir is mounted to one of the side walls and the emergencyreservoir is mounted to the other side wall.

In an alternative additional feature of that aspect of the invention,the railcar unit has a pair of end structures each for mounting to arailcar truck, and a pair of side beams extending between the endstructures. Each of the beams has a top chord and a lower sill. A brakevalve is mounted at least partially within the relief. Service andemergency brake reservoirs are connected to the brake valve and mountedto at least one of the beams.

In a further additional alternative feature of that aspect of theinvention, each of the top chords is formed of a hollow section havingan inboard portion and an outboard portion. Each beam has a webconnected between the inboard portion and the lower sill. The web has anoutboard face. At least one of the service and emergency reservoirs ismounted to one of the outboard faces and is at least partially overhungby the top chord.

In a further alternative additional feature of the invention the railcarunit is a well car unit having a well for receiving the wheels of ahighway trailer, such that the nose of the highway trailer overhangs thearticulation connection end to define a highway trailer clearanceenvelope. The railcar unit has a brake valve mounted to lie at leastpartially within the relief. All of the brake valve lies outside theenvelope. The railcar unit has a service brake reservoir and anemergency brake reservoir mounted thereto outside the envelope.

In another alternative additional feature of that aspect of theinvention, the railcar unit is a well car unit. It has a well forreceiving the wheels of a highway trailer, such that the nose of thathighway trailer overhangs said articulation connection to define ahighway trailer clearance envelope. The well car unit has a pair of endstructures each for mounting to a railcar truck. A pair of side beamsextend between the end structures. Each of the beams has a top chord, alower sill, and a web extending between the top chord and the lowersill. Each web has an outboard face. A brake valve is mounted to therailcar unit at least partially within the relief and completely outsidethe envelope. A service brake reservoir is connected to the brake valveand mounted to the outboard face of one of the webs. An emergency brakereservoir is connected to the brake valve and mounted to the outboardface of the other web. The top chord of one beam at least partiallyoverhangs the service brake reservoir. The top chord of the other beamat least partially overhangs the emergency reservoir.

In another aspect of the invention, there is a well car unit of anarticulated railcar. It comprises a pair of end structures, at least oneof the end structures being an articulation connection end forconnection to an articulation truck. It has a well capable of receivingthe wheels of at least one size of highway trailer, the size of thenoses of the sizes of highway trailer which the well is capable ofreceiving defining a nose overhang clearance envelope relative to saidarticulation connection end. The railcar includes a brake cylinder foractuating the brake of said well car unit. A brake valve is connected tocontrol the brake cylinder and is mounted to the well car unit withinhalf the length of the well car unit from the articulation connectionend. A service brake reservoir is connected to the brake valve. Anemergency brake reservoir is connected to the brake valve. The serviceand emergency brake reservoirs are mounted to the well car unit to lieoutside the envelope.

In an additional, alternative feature of that aspect of the invention,the well car unit has a pair of side beams extending longitudinallybetween the end structures to define sides of the well. The servicereservoir is mounted to one of the sides and the emergency reservoir ismounted to the other.

In a further alternative additional feature of that aspect of theinvention, the well car unit has a pair of side beams extendinglongitudinally between the pair of end structures to define sides of thewell. The beams have an outboard face. The service reservoir is mountedto the outboard face of one of the beams and the emergency reservoir ismounted to the outboard face of the other. In a further alternativefeature of that additional feature, each of the beams has a top chord, alower sill and a web joining the top chord and the lower sill. The topchord overhangs the one of the service and emergency reservoirs mountedto the beam.

In a further alternative additional feature of that aspect of theinvention, the brake valve is mounted to one of the end structures andthe reservoirs are mounted to the well car unit closer to the brakevalve than to the other end structure.

In a still further aspect of the invention, there is an articulatedrailcar having at least two articulated railcar units sharing anarticulation truck and each having an articulation connection endconnected to the truck. At least one of the railcar units is a well carunit. It has a well, and a pair of end structures at opposite ends ofthereof. The well is capable of receiving the wheels of at least onesize of highway trailer. The sizes of the noses of the sizes of highwaytrailer which the well is capable of receiving define a nose overhangclearance envelope relative to the articulation connection ends of therailcar units. At least one of the railcar units has a brake cylinderfor operating a brake of the railcar. At least one of the railcar unitshas a brake valve connected to control operation of the brake cylinder.The brake cylinder valve is mounted to the one railcar unit less thanhalf the length of that railcar unit from the articulation connectionend. At least one of the railcar units has a service brake reservoirconnected to the brake valve. At least one of the railcar units has anemergency brake reservoir connected to the brake valve. The brake valve,service brake reservoir and emergency brake reservoir are all mounted tothe railcar in positions lying outside the envelope.

In an additional feature of that aspect of the invention, the railcarhas another brake valve mounted thereto less than 175 feet from theother brake valve.

In a still further aspect of the invention, there is a railcar unitcomprising a pair of ends mounted to railcar trucks, and intermediatestructure connecting the. A service brake reservoir and an emergencybrake reservoir are separately mounted to the railcar unit.

In an alternative, additional feature of that aspect of the invention,the intermediate structure includes a pair of side walls extendinglongitudinally between the ends. The service and emergency brakereservoirs are each mounted to one of the side walls. In a further,additional alternative feature, the service brake reservoir is mountedto one of the sidewalls and the emergency brake reservoir is mounted tothe other.

In yet another further aspect of the invention, there is an articulatedrailcar having at least two articulated railcar units. Each of the unitshas an articulation connection end. Each of the ends has a central silland an articulated connector mounted therein. The railcar units share arailcar truck to which the articulated connectors are mounted. Each unithas a main bolster extending laterally of its respective central sill.At least one of the bolsters has a relief formed therein to accommodatea brake valve between the bolsters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show moreclearly how it may be carried into effect, reference will now be made byway of example to the accompanying drawings, which show an apparatusaccording to the preferred embodiment of the present invention and inwhich:

FIG. 1a is a plan view of an articulated railcar having threearticulated well car units.

FIG. 1b is a side view of the articulated railcar of FIG. 1a.

FIG. 1c is an enlarged plan view of one end unit of the railcar of FIG.1a.

FIG. 1d is an enlarged side view of the end unit of FIG. 1c.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of a side beam of the end unit of FIG. 1dtaken on `2--2`.

FIG. 3a shows a plan view of brake lines for the railcar of FIG. 1a atthe articulation end of the railcar unit, with railcar structure shownin dashed lines.

FIG. 3b shows a plan view of brake lines for the railcar of FIG. 1a atthe connection end of the railcar unit, with railcar structure shown indashed lines.

FIG. 4a shows a side view of brake lines for the railcar of FIG. 1a atthe articulation end of the railcar unit, with railcar structure shownin light phantom lines.

FIG. 4b shows a side view of brake lines for the railcar of FIG. 1a atthe connection end of the railcar unit, with railcar structure shown inlight phantom lines.

FIG. 5 shows a partial plan view near the connector end of a railcarunit as shown in FIG. 1a.

FIG. 6 shows an end view of the skeleton of the end structure of therailcar of FIG. 1a.

FIG. 7 shows a partial side view of the end structure of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8a shows an enlarged plan view of a portion of the railcar of FIG.1c.

FIG. 8b shows an enlarged side view of a portion of the railcar of FIG.1c.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The description of the invention is best understood by reference to theFigures, in which some proportions have been exaggerated for thepurposes of conceptual illustration. Referring to FIGS. 1a and 1b, anarticulated rail car is shown generally as 20. It is made up of threearticulated well car units, a first end unit 22, an intermediate unit 24and a second end unit 26 supported on a pair of standard end trucks 28and 30, and a pair of articulated trucks 32 and 34 located between units22 and 24, and between units 24 and 26 respectively.

End unit 22 has a connector end structure, indicated generally as 36, anarticulation end structure indicated generally as 38, and a wellstructure, indicated as 40, extending between them. Well structure 40has a pair of opposed side members in the nature of left and right handbeam assemblies 42 and 44, held apart by a floor assembly 50. Floorassembly 50 includes a central cross beam such as cross beam 52 of floorassembly 50. Other cross beams include a pair of medial cross beams areshown as 54 and 56 and a pair of end cross beams 58 and 60. Betweenpairs of cross beams floor assembly 50 has H-shaped force resolvers 62and 64 each having a force resolver cross member 70 connected to sidebeam assemblies 42 and 44 respectively.

For the purposes of the present disclosure the floor assemblies shownare all the same, whether considering the multiple unit articulatedrailcar of FIGS. 1a and 1b, or the single unit well car of FIGS. 1c and1d. Referring to floor assembly 50 of unit 22, the spacing between maincross beam 52 and 28' medial cross beams 54 and 56 is unequal to thespacing between 28' medial cross beams 54 and 56 and 40' end cross beams58 and 60. Four ISO 40' container cones located on 40' cross beams 58and 60 are indicated as 72. The unequal pitch of the cross members issuch that the well structure 40 can accommodate either two ISO 20'containers, each with one end located on cones 72, a single 40' ISOcontainer, also located on cones 72, a single 45' domestic container ora single 48' domestic container. Depending on the configuration ofcontainer carried in well structure 40, unit 22 is designed also tosupport an upper, stacked 40' ISO container, or single stacked 45', 48'or 53' domestic containers.

Force resolver cross members 70, 74, 76, and 78 are located midwaybetween each successive pair of cross beams. They have either shortfloor panels, left handed ones designated as 80 and right handed ones as82, or long floor panels, left and right handed ones designated as 84and 86, respectively, welded to them. Four floor panels are generouslywelded to each cross member to form the H-shape shown. At each end offloor assembly 50 there is a pair of load spreading struts 88 and 90.They transfer longitudinal loads between end structures 36 and 38 andside beam assemblies 42 and 44 through end cross beams 58 and 60. Leftand right hand cross beam socket fittings 92 and 94 receive the ends ofstruts 88 and 90. Finally, at either end of floor assembly 50 left andright hand floor panel extensions 96 and 98 are located between socketfittings 92 and 94 and side sill assemblies 42 and 44. Floor panelextensions 96 and 98 permit a 53' trailer to be carried in wellstructure 40.

Side beam assembly 42, identical to side beam assembly 44, has a topchord member 106 in the form of a hollow sectioned, square steel tube108 surmounted by a 1 inch thick top chord plate 110, with fillet weldsall along the seams. At each section `X--X` shown in FIG. 1d plate 110is supplanted by a thinner, 1/2 inch thick plate 112. Returning to FIG.2, a web 114 is mounted to, and extends downwardly from, a lap jointagainst the inner face of square steel tube 108 to meet lower side sill116 in the form of a 1/2 inch thick angle iron 118 having a 73/8 inchvertical leg and a 7 inch inwardly extending toe. A 1/2 inch thickreinforcement 120 is welded to the lower face of the toe of angle iron118. Stiffeners 122 in the form of steel channel sections, shown in FIG.1d, are welded, toes inward, intermittently along the outside face ofside beam assembly 42 at locations corresponding to the junctions ofcross beams, such as cross beam 52, and spines such as cross member 70.

At each end of railcar unit 22 loads carried in the floor and in theside beam assemblies 42 and 44 are transferred to and from either arailcar end connector 130 or an articulation end connector 131. Thereare two primary load paths. The first load path is from the connectorinto a stub sill 132, into a bolster 134 and a shear plate 136 andthence to beam assembly 42 or beam assembly 44. The second load path isfrom connector 130 or 131, through stub sill 132, along a downwardlycurving and spreading stub sill neck 138 into a spreader plate 140 andthence through left and right hand struts 88 and 90 into floor assembly50.

Care has been taken on each of these paths to reduce stressconcentrations that had formerly been found disadvantageous. ConsideringFIG. 8b, which is typical, on the first path, lower side sill 116 andweb 114 end at a smoothly curved transition flange 142 which extends tothe longitudinal location of main body bolster 134. Similarly, welded tothe top of each of side beam assemblies 40 and 42 is a tapered superiortransition member 144 which extends from well beyond the transition ofweb 114 into beam assembly 40 or 42, to the end of beam assembly 40 or42. This permits a deeper transition section over the wheel wellallowance, and a correspondingly better stress distribution. Further, itpermits, a deeper main bolster 134, and a deeper transition from sidesill assemblies 40 and 42 to bolster 134, with lower stress levelsgenerally, permitting a heavier loading generally. Superior transitionmember 144 carries loads to bolster 134 and into a reinforcing crossmember 146 at the same level as male or female side bearing arms 148 or150 and allows those sliders to be at a greater elevation from therails, in turn permitting a heavier duty articulated truck with greaterload bearing capacity.

Examining FIG. 6 more closely, the skeleton members of articulated truckend structure 38 include main bolster 134, which extends laterally ofstub sill 132. Stub sill 132 has a rectangular cross section formed by apair of stub sill sides, 154 and 156, a bottom flange 158 which extendslaterally beyond both stub sill sides, and a false flange 160 weldedbetween sides 154 and 156 to form a socket for receiving the root ofarticulated connector 131. Sides 154 and 156 extend rearwardly to formthe sides of neck 138. Bottom flange 158 also extends in a downwardlybent leg along the lower edges of sides 154 and 156 to form the forwardface of neck 138. Shear plate 136 is welded across the top edges of stubsill sides 154 and 156 and the top of main bolster 134. The rearwardedge of shear plate 136 is bent downwardly to form forward bulkhead 166of the well of railcar first end unit 22. In the particular endstructure shown, a pair of female side bearing arms are shown. Malesliders could have been shown instead without altering the principles ofthe invention provided that clearance for the corresponding femalebearing arms of the adjacent railcar unit is maintained outboard of themale side bearing arms. Lateral reinforcing member 146 is mounted toshear plate 136 above bolster 134. Both lateral cross member 146 andbolster 134 have a longitudinal rake angle α yielding a tapered outboardextremity. This gives, in effect, a relief, indicated generally as 170.The male bolster and bolster reinforcement of the adjacent railcar unitalso have an outboard relief, such that a brake valve 172 can be mountedin the space of the relief, at a height such that the uppermostextremity of brake valve 172 lies at a low enough level not to interferewith the bottom side of a highway trailer nose clearance envelope,whether that highway trailer nose is overhanging the end structure fromthe well of the same railcar unit or from the adjacent unit.

The brake system of the railcar unit are shown in FIGS. 3a, 3b, 4a and4b, these drawings showing both the handbrake and pneumatic systems indark lines. A 11/4" trainline is indicated as 174. It extends from arailcar end coupling 176 along the outside of side beam 42 to anarticulation coupling 178, whence it is joined by a flexible hose 180that is coupled to the adjoining trainline of the next articulated carunit. Brake valve 172 is mounted in relief 170 of bolster 134, onecorner being fixed directly thereto, and another corner being mounted toa bracket 184 welded to female side arm 150. Bracket 184 is a chainhack. Each of the articulated ends of the car has a pair of chain hackto permit the articulated truck to be chained to the bodies of theadjacent well car units. This allows the truck to be picked up with thecar clear of the wheels. This is convenient for changing out wheels.

A 3/4" service reservoir brake line 188 joins, and permits communicationbetween, brake valve 172 and auxiliary, or service reservoir 190.Service reservoir 190 is a 3500 cu. in. cylindrical canister mounted inservice reservoir brackets 192 to the outer face of web 114 of side beam42, falling at least partially within the profile of top chord member106. Similarly, a 3/4" emergency reservoir brake line 194 joins, andpermits communication between, brake valve 172 and emergency reservoir198, similarly mounted in emergency reservoir mounting brackets 200 inthe shadow of top chord member 106 of side beam 44.

As noted above, the well car units each have well structures, like endunit well structure 40, that are suitable for carrying shippingcontainers or highway trailers, or a combination load. Each end of theunit is equipped with a trailer hitch 206 or 208 for receiving the kingpin of a highway trailer. The decking adjacent to hitches 206 and 208 iskept clear of obstructions that could interfere with carriage of highwaytrailers.

The overall length of the three car unit articulated railcar of FIG. 1between coupler centres is 191'-0 1/2", and 188'-5" over the strikerfaces. A standard compound brake reservoir 248 and a standard brakevalve 246 are shown mounted on the connector end of unit 26. The saddlebag placement of service and emergency brake reservoirs 190 and 198, asdescribed above, on the outside faces of side beams 42 and 44 does notimpinge upon the space envelope required to permit overlength highwaytrailers to be loaded in well 40. Similarly, the placement of brakevalve 172, as shown, is such that its uppermost extremities lie clear ofthe highway trailer loading envelope, in rebate 170. Rebate 170 issufficiently large that brake valve 172 does not impede the motion ofthe car units during turns on a 180' turn radius. The location of thebrake reservoirs and brake valves in relatively close proximity to eachother is convenient.

Top chord member 106 could also be formed as a three sided roll formedchannel, or other shaped hollow or open section channel, surmounted witha reinforcing plate such as plate 110. An upwardly opening U-shapedchannel with a with a thick plate welded across the toes to form aclosed section is one such alternative embodiment. The use of a steeltube is considered advantageous since such tube are readily available,and require less fabrication effort on assembly.

Although the saddle bag reservoir configuration described is preferred,other configurations of brake reservoirs can be employed. For example, alarger number of reservoirs of smaller diameter could be mounted toshear plate 136, provided always that they do not interfere withclearance for the noses of the highway trailer types the railcar unit isdesigned to carry. Similarly, a single, long reservoir of the same, orsimilar, diameter to those shown (roughly 101/2 inches) with an internalbulkhead, or partition, could be mounted to one or the other of sidebeams 40 or 42. Alternatively, two separate reservoirs, as shown, couldbe mounted to the same side of railcar unit 22. It would also bepossible, depending on space restrictions, to mount the reservoirsinside the webs of the side beams, rather than outside, provided theycould be adequately protected from clumsy loading of cargo into well 40.It is not necessary that reservoirs 190 and 198 be mounted on the samerailcar unit. They could, for example be mounted on unit 24 and brakevalve 172 mounted on unit 22. However, notwithstanding the existence ofnumerous other possible configurations, the more or less symmetricalsaddle bag configuration, on the outside face of the side beam webs,with the top chords at least partially overhanging the reservoirs andwith the reservoirs mounted to the same unit as the brake valve, ispreferred for its simplicity, ease of installation, and access forservicing and maintenance.

Although the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1c and described above ispreferred, the principles of the present invention are not limited tothis specific example which is given by way of illustration. It ispossible to make other embodiments that employ the principles of theinvention and that fall within its spirit and scope as defined by thefollowing claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A railcar unit comprising:a pair of endstructures mounted to railcar trucks and intermediate structureconnecting said end structures; and a service brake reservoir and anemergency brake reservoir separately mounted to said railcar unit; saidintermediate structure including a pair of side beams extending betweensaid end structures, each of said beams having a top chord and a lowersill; a brake valve mounted to said railcar unit; and service andemergency brake reservoirs connected to said brake valve and mounted toat least one of said beams.
 2. The railcar unit of claim 1 wherein saidservice reservoir is mounted to one of said side beams and saidemergency reservoir is mounted to the other of said side beams.
 3. Therailcar unit of claim 1, wherein:each of said top chords is formed of ahollow section having an inboard portion and an outboard portion; eachsaid beam has a web connected between said inboard portion and saidlower sill, said web having an outboard face; at least one of saidservice reservoir and said emergency reservoir is mounted to one of saidoutboard faces and is at least partially overhung by said top chord. 4.A railcar unit for carrying at least one size of highway trailer havinga nose and a set of wheels, said railcar unit comprising:a pair of endstructures mounted to railcar trucks, and intermediate structureconnecting said end structures; a service brake reservoir and anemergency brake reservoir separately mounted to said railcar unit; awell defined between said end structures for receiving the wheels of atleast one size of highway trailer, such that the nose of the traileroverhangs one of said end structures, the size of the nose of that atleast one size of highway trailer defining a highway trailer clearanceenvelope over one of said end structures; said railcar unit has a brakevalve mounted to lie outside said envelope; and said service brakereservoir and said emergency brake reservoir each lie outside saidenvelope.
 5. A rail road well car unit for carrying at least one size ofhighway trailer having a nose and a set of wheels, said well car unitcomprising:a pair of end structures mounted to railcar trucks andintermediate structure connecting said end structures, one of said endstructures being an articulation end having an articulation connection;a well defined between said end structures for receiving the wheels ofat least one size of highway trailer, with the nose of said traileroverhanging said articulation end; the size of the nose of the highwaytrailer defining a highway trailer clearance envelope over saidarticulation end; said intermediate structure includes a pair of sidebeams extending between said end structures, each of said beams having atop chord, a lower sill, and a web extending between said top chord andsaid lower sill, each said web having an outboard face; a stub sill formounting an articulated connector, and a main bolster having armsextending laterally from said stub sill, at least one of said armshaving a relief formed therein for accommodating a brake valve; a brakevalve mounted to said railcar unit at least partially within said reliefand lying completely outside said envelope; a service brake reservoirconnected to said brake valve and mounted to said outboard face of oneof said webs; an emergency brake reservoir connected to said brake valveand mounted to said outboard face of the other of said webs; said topchord of one said beam at least partially overhanging said service brakereservoir; and said top chord of the other said beam at least partiallyoverhanging said emergency reservoir.
 6. A well car unit of anarticulated railcar having a length and being capable of carrying ahighway trailer having a nose and a set of wheels, said well car unitcomprising:a pair of end structures, at least one of said end structuresbeing an articulation connection end for connection to an articulationtruck; intermediate structure connecting said end structures; a welldefined between said end structures, said well being capable ofreceiving the wheels of at least one size of highway trailer in aposition in which the nose of the trailer overhangs said articulationconnection end, the sizes of the noses of the sizes of highway trailerwhich said well is capable of receiving defining a nose overhangclearance envelope relative to said articulation connection end; a brakecylinder for actuating a brake of said well car unit; a brake valveconnected to control said brake cylinder, said brake valve being mountedto said well car unit within half the length of said well car unit fromsaid articulation connection end; a service brake reservoir connected tosaid brake valve; an emergency brake reservoir connected to said brakevalve; and said service and emergency brake reservoirs being mounted tosaid well car unit and lying outside said envelope.
 7. The well car unitof claim 6, the envelope having a lowest boundary height relative to topof rail, wherein said service and emergency brake reservoirs are mountedat a height lower than the lowest boundary height of the envelope. 8.The well car of claim 6 wherein said service and emergency reservoirsare mounted separately to said well car unit.
 9. The well car unit ofclaim 6 wherein said well car unit intermediate structure includes apair of side beams extending longitudinally between said end structuresto define sides of said well, and at least one of said service andemergency reservoirs is mounted to one of said side beams.
 10. The wellcar unit of claim 6 wherein:said intermediate structure of said well carunit includes a pair of side beams extending longitudinally between saidend structures to define sides of said well; said service reservoir ismounted to one of said sides; and said emergency reservoir is mounted tothe other of said sides.
 11. The well car unit of claim 6 wherein:saidintermediate structure of said well car unit includes a pair of sidebeams extending longitudinally between said pair of end structures todefine sides of said well; said beams each have an outboard face; saidservice reservoir is mounted to said outboard face of one of said beams;and said emergency reservoir is mounted to said outboard face of theother of said beams.
 12. The well car unit of claim 11 wherein:each ofsaid beams has a top chord, a lower sill and a web joining said topchord and said lower sill; and said top chord overhangs the one of saidservice and emergency reservoirs mounted to said beam.
 13. The well carunit of claim 6 wherein said brake valve is mounted to one of said endstructures and said reservoirs are mounted to said well car unit closerto said brake valve than to the other end structure.
 14. An articulatedrailcar having at least two articulated railcar units sharing anarticulation truck and each having a length and an articulationconnection end connected to said truck wherein:at least one of saidrailcar units is a well car unit havinga well, and a pair of endstructures at opposite ends of said well; said well being capable ofreceiving the wheels of at least one size of highway trailer, the sizesof the noses of the sizes of highway trailer which the well is capableof receiving defining a nose overhang clearance envelope relative tosaid articulation connection ends of said railcar units; at least one ofsaid railcar units has a brake cylinder for operating a brake of saidrailcar; at least one of said railcar units has a brake valve connectedto control operation of said brake cylinder, said brake valve beingmounted to said one railcar unit less than half the length of saidrailcar unit from said articulation connection end; at least one of saidrailcar units has a service brake reservoir connected to said brakevalve; at least one of said railcar units has an emergency brakereservoir connected to said brake valve; and each of said brake valve,said service brake reservoir and said emergency brake reservoir ismounted to said railcar in a position lying outside said envelope. 15.The articulated railcar of claim 14 wherein said brake valve is mountedless than 175 feet from another brake valve mounted to said railcar.